Dufner carries lead into final round of Byron Nelson

Jason Dufner hits out of the sand Saturday on the 16th hole during the third round of the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving. Dufner leads by one shot heading into the final round.

The Associated Press

IRVING — Nine players had or shared the lead during the third round of the Byron Nelson Championship.

Yet when play ended Saturday, Jason Dufner was the one alone at the top of the leaderboard for the second day in a row.

Unfazed by more breezy conditions, Dufner shot a 1-under 69 for an 8-under 202 total. He has a one-stroke lead over Jason Day, J.J. Henry and Dicky Pride.

“Similar conditions as (Friday), so probably helped me a little bit, just being comfortable with the wind and how hard it was blowing,” Dufner said. “Good ball striking, hit a lot of greens. ... Didn’t feel like I was scrambling too much, trying to save pars or out of position, anything like that.”

Three weeks after getting his first PGA Tour victory at New Orleans, and two weeks after getting married, Dufner is already trying to win again.

With a forecast for wind again at 20 mph with higher gusts Sunday, and the experience of having won recently, Dufner is comfortable in his position.

Matt Kuchar, who won The Players Championship last weekend, is four shots back after a 72 with an up-and-down back nine.

Kuchar, the fifth-ranked player in the world, still has a chance to become the first PGA Tour player since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win in consecutive weeks.

Dufner’s only bogey came at the 528-yard par-4 third hole, when he knew right away that his drive wasn’t a good one. He immediately dropped his club to watch as the ball flew into a bunker on the left side of the fairway, opposite the water on the right where he hit his tee shot the previous day.

“A little bit of carryover from (Friday), not trying to let those things happen, but occasionally they creep in your mind,” he said. “That bunker is almost as bad as being in the water, so (Sunday) maybe I’ll think of that and play more aggressive and try to hit the shot a little better.”

Dufner, who birdied four of his last five holes Friday, got the lost stroke back Saturday with a 10-foot birdie putt at No. 6. He had pars the rest of the way except for the 14-foot birdie at the par-4 14th.

Day’s only bogey came when he missed a putt of less than 2 feet at No. 18. The ball rimmed around the cup and rolled back toward him, costing him a share of the lead with a round of 67.

“I just hit it too hard through the break,” said Day, the 2010 Nelson champ who finished fifth last year in his only other appearance on the TPC at Four Seasons courses. “One day that hole will pay me back, and hopefully it’s (Sunday).”

There were 20 players within five strokes of the lead. And 10th-ranked Phil Mickelson is among of group of seven more players only one shot more back.

Henry had three birdies on the back nine after two bogeys on the easier front nine in a round of 67. Pride, who has been playing professionally for 20 years, got his only PGA Tour victory in 1994.

“I threw my caddie in the air trying to figure out the wind,” Pride joked after his round of 69. “Grass, I couldn’t see.”

Vijay Singh, a 34-time PGA Tour winner whose last victory was in 2008, had a 66 Saturday. He is two strokes back after an eagle-birdie-bogey finish. After his 38-foot eagle putt at the par-5 16th, he made a 5-foot birdie at No. 17 but missed a par putt of the same distance on the last hole.

“I’ve been looking forward to this position,” he said.

“My game has been coming around, but there wasn’t any signs of scoring and this is the first day where I kind of went out there and scored well.”